Contents

Burcht van Leiden, remnants of the castle where Ada was first taken prisoner after the death of her father.

Ada was the only surviving daughter of Dirk VII, Count of Holland and his wife Adelaide of Cleves. She succeeded her father but immediately had to deal with her uncle William, who claimed Holland for his own. Ada married Louis II, count of Loon to strengthen her position. She was in such a hurry, that she married even before her father was buried, which caused a scandal.[1] These events led to the outbreak of the Loon War (1203–1206).

Ada was quickly captured by the supporters of William and taken prisoner in the citadel of Leiden. She was first imprisoned on the island of Texel and afterwards she was taken to John Lackland in the Kingdom of England. William had to accept Louis and Ada as count and countess at a treaty of Brugge in 1206. Louis managed to get Ada free in 1206, and the couple returned to Loon in 1207. Their reign was short-lived and William was appointed Count of Holland by Otto IV in 1208. She did not accept the loss of her county, and Ada and Louis continued the fight. Ada remained childless. Louis died in 1218, leaving Ada to live out the rest of her life in obscurity. She was buried next to her husband in Herkenrode Abbey.

The civil war in Holland became part of a major international war between on one side France and the Hohenstaufen dynasty and on the other side England and the Welfs. William could get Holland through good maneuvering between both sides. Louis and Ada had to give up their claims. History has been particularly unkind to her, and many period histories up to the Protestant Reformation don't even count her as a countess, but call William I the next in line from Dirk VII, as if she never existed.

1.
Coat of arms
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A coat of arms is an heraldic visual design on an escutcheon, surcoat, or tabard. The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the heraldic achievement which in its whole consists of shield, supporters, crest. A coat of arms is traditionally unique to a person, family, state. The ancient Romans used similar insignia on their shields, but these identified military units rather than individuals, the first evidence of medieval coats of arms has been attributed to the 11th century Bayeux Tapestry in which some of the combatants carry shields painted with crosses. However, that heraldic interpretation remains controversial, coats of arms came into general use by feudal lords and knights in battle in the 12th century. By the 13th century, arms had spread beyond their initial battlefield use to become a flag or emblem for families in the social classes of Europe. Exactly who had a right to use arms, by law or social convention, in the German-speaking regions both the aristocracy and burghers used arms, while in most of the rest of Europe they were limited to the aristocracy. The use of spread to the clergy, to towns as civic identifiers. Flags developed from coats of arms, and the arts of vexillology, the coats of arms granted to commercial companies are a major source of the modern logo. Despite no widespread regulation, heraldry has remained consistent across Europe, some nations, like England and Scotland, still maintain the same heraldic authorities which have traditionally granted and regulated arms for centuries and continue to do so in the present day. In England, for example, the granting of arms is and has controlled by the College of Arms. Unlike seals and other emblems, heraldic achievements have a formal description called a blazon. Many societies exist that also aid in the design and registration of personal arms, in the heraldic traditions of England and Scotland, an individual, rather than a family, had a coat of arms. In those traditions coats of arms are legal property transmitted from father to son, wives, undifferenced arms are used only by one person at any given time. Other descendants of the bearer could bear the ancestral arms only with some difference. One such charge is the label, which in British usage is now always the mark of an apparent or an heir presumptive. Because of their importance in identification, particularly in seals on legal documents and this has been carried out by heralds and the study of coats of arms is therefore called heraldry. In time, the use of arms spread from military entities to educational institutes, the author Helen Stuart argues that some coats of arms were a form of corporate logo

2.
Ada (name)
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Ada is a feminine given name. One source indicates it originates from a Germanic word meaning nobility and it can also be a short form of names such as Adelaide and Adeline. The name also traces to Hebrew origin, sometimes spelt Adah - עָדָה, the name has seen a slight increase in popularity in the United States in recent years, where it was the 646th most common name given to baby girls born there in 2007. It had been among the top 100 names for girls in the United States between 1880 and 1912 and remained in the top 1,000 names for girls until 1985. It first reappeared among the top 1,000 names for girls in 2004, finnish variant Aada was among the top ten most popular names given to newborn girls in Finland in 2013. The name is commonly used in Norway, where it was the 66th most popular name for girls born in 2007. Ada, a programming language, was named in her honor. St. Ada was also the name of a saint and of several medieval queens

3.
Count of Holland
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The Counts of Holland ruled over the County of Holland in the Low Countries between the 10th and the 16th century. The first count of Holland, Dirk I, was the son or foster-son of Gerolf and he received land around Egmond from Charles the Fat at a place called Bladella in 922. This is seen as the beginning of the county of Holland, however, until about 1100, the usual names for the county were West-Friesland, Frisia or Kennemerland, in spite of this the counts from Dirk I onwards are named of Holland. Note that the chronology of the first few counts is uncertain and this third Count Dirk is placed between Dirk I and II and numbered as Dirk I bis to avoid confusion with the already established numbering referring to the other counts of Holland named Dirk. John of Avesnes was a son of Adelaide of Holland, sister of William II of Holland, during the rule of Margaret, her son William V had the real power in the county. He became ruler in his own right as a result of the Hook and he was also Duke of Bavaria-Straubing as William I. This war was won by Philip of Burgundy in 1432. Philip was a nephew of William VI, who had married a daughter of Philip the Bold of Burgundy, in 1432 he forced Jacqueline to abdicate from Hainaut and Holland on his behalf. In 1581, the Estates General of the United Provinces declared themselves independent from the Spanish rule of Philip II. Until the Treaty of Münster in 1648, the kings of Spain still used the title Count of Holland, but they had lost the actual power over the county to the States of Holland. Philip IV, King Philip III of Spain Philip V, King Philip IV of Spain The County remained in existence as a constituent member state of the Dutch Republic until 1795. There were no more Counts however since the Estates of Holland, the Stadtholders, who were servants of the Estates were the de facto Chief-Executives during this period. Counts of Holland family tree A book of 32 plates of the counts of Holland published in Amsterdam in 1663, engraved by Adriaen Matham B. K. S. Dijkstra, Een stamboom in been, Amsterdam 1991

4.
County of Holland
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The territory of the County of Holland corresponds roughly with the current provinces of North and South Holland in the Netherlands. The oldest sources refer to the not clearly defined county as Frisia, before 1101, sources talk about Frisian counts, but in this year Floris II, Count of Holland is mentioned as Florentius comes de Hollant. This title was used after Holland was united with Hainault, Bavaria-Straubing. The titles eventually lost their importance, and the last count, Philip II of Spain, around 800, under Charlemagne, the Frankish Empire covered a great deal of Europe. In much of this empire an important unit of administration, corresponding roughly to a shire or county in England, was the gau. A comes or Count ruled over one or more gaue, because of the low trade, the negative trade balance with the Byzantine Empire and the Muslim states, and the disappearance of currency, the economy was more or less reduced to bartering. The kings vassals could only be rewarded by giving them land, from this the system of Feudalism developed. The vassals, who were appointed by the king, strove for a system of inheritance. This become more and more the rule, and in 877 it was legalised in the Capitulary of Quierzy, upon the death of a king, the Frankish kingdom was frequently divided among his heirs. This partible inheritance often caused internal struggle which made centralized government problematic, the Viking Raids further undermined centralized government. At the end of the reign of Emperor Louis the Pious, the power had weakened because of the flood of 838. Upon Lothairs death in 855, the part of Middle Francia was awarded to his second son Lothair II. The Treaty of Ribemont in 880 added the Kingdom of Lotharingia — of which the Low Countries were part — to East Francia, which attempted to integrate it. However, there were no connections there were between the four German Stem Duchies of east Francia, the Franconia, the Saxony, the Bavaria. Lotharingia took a position with a large amount of self-determination. This became clear when Louis the Child, the last Carolingian of East Francia, while the Stem Duchies flocked to Duke Conrad I of Franconia, Lotharingia chose for the Carolingian Charles the Simple, king of West Francia. In Frisia the situation was complex, the power was in the hands of Roriks successor Godfrid the Sea King, who became embroiled in the high politics of the Frankish empire. He was allied with the children of the former Carolingian Lotharingian king Lothair II, the main actor in this murder was Everard Saxo, the count of Hamaland

5.
Burcht van Leiden
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The Burcht van Leiden is an old shell keep in Leiden constructed in the 11th century. It is located at the spot where two tributaries of the Rhine come together, the Oude Rijn and the Nieuwe Rijn, the structure is on top of a motte, and is today a public park. From humble beginnings, the hill was raised during various periods of history up to 9 meters above the landscape in the 11th century. Ada van Holland used the keep as a residence until her died in 1203. In the same year the stone building was rebuilt after an attack on the castle, with tuff stone. The old interior keep that had built against the interior walls was slowly dismantled and reused for city construction. As the city of Leiden grew around it in the 13th and 14th centuries, the location became a romantic patriotic symbol after the Siege of Leiden in 1574, as historians recalled the earlier sieges of Leiden, Ada in 1203 and the siege in 1420. The city of Samaria is portrayed with a watch tower much like the Leidse Burcht, in 1651 the city bought the premises to make it into a water tower for public use. A system of leading to squares in the city is still intact. In this period a new portal on the wall was designed in 1662 with heraldric symbols by Rombout Verhulst. In this Southern gateway a poem in Latin was used for centuries to teach the rudiments of grammar to Leiden students, a memorial plaque was placed in 1999 with the modern translation in Dutch. List of castles in the Netherlands Information in English

6.
Dirk VII, Count of Holland
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Dirk VII of Holland, also known as Dietrich in German, Thierry in French, and Theodoric in English, was Count of Holland from 1190 to 1203. He was the son of Floris III and Ada of Huntingdon. Thanks to a war in the Holy Roman Empire, Henry VI. The Emperor supported Dirk by giving him the right to tolls on Flemish traders in Geervliet. Henry also gave Holland the Grote Waard, at the cost of the bishopric of Utrecht and he also set aside the Salic law for the succession to the County of Holland, which meant that it could be inherited by a female heir. In 1196, Dirk temporarily gained the authority of the bishopric of Utrecht. This meant war with Count Otto I of Guelders, Otto was defeated at the Battle of the Grebbeberg. In 1197 Dirk van Are was elected as the new bishop, as such, he recovered the princely authority of Utrecht. The Hohenstaufens were losing the war, so Count Dirk changed sides. The Frisians in Oostergo and Westergo supported Dirks brother William, who invaded Holland, William was supported by some of the West Frisians as well. In 1202 Dirk allied himself with Otto of Guelders, and they both attacked Brabant, Brabant claimed Holland, Utrecht and Guelders as dukes of Lotharingia. Den Bosch and Geertruidenberg were sacked during this campaign, Duke Henry I of Brabant took Dirk prisoner at Heusden. As well as having to pay a ransom, he had to accept the Duke of Brabant as his overlord in southern Holland. Dirks daughter Ada inherited the County of Holland in 1203 and she married Louis II, Count of Loon, who became Count of Holland. In 1186 Dirk married Adelaide of Cleves, a daughter of Arnold of Cleves, petronilla Ada, Countess of Holland, married in 1203 Louis II, Count of Loon, Count of Holland from 1203 to 1206

7.
William I of Holland
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William I, Count of Holland from 1203 to 1222. He was the son of Floris III and Ada of Huntingdon. He started a revolt against his brother, Dirk VII and became count in Friesland after a reconciliation, Friesland was considered as a part of Holland by the Counts of Holland. His niece, Ada, Countess of Holland inherited Holland in 1203, after a war of succession, known as the Loon War, William won the county. Ada and her husband, Louis II, were supported by the bishop of Liège and bishop of Utrecht, William was supported by the duke of Brabant and by the majority of the Hollanders. Emperor Otto IV acknowledged him as count of Holland in 1203 and he and many others changed allegiance to emperor Frederick II after the battle of Bouvines in 1214. He took part in a French expedition against king John of England, the pope excommunicated him for this. Possibly because of this, William then became a fervent crusader and he campaigned in Prussia and joined in the conquest of Alcácer do Sal. In Europe, he came to be called William the Crazy for his chivalric, William conquered the city of Damietta during the Fifth Crusade. There were great changes in the landscape of Holland in the end of the 12th, many colonists bought land to turn the swamps into polders. Most of the swamps had been sold, and irrigation had started during the reign of William, huge infrastructural works were done, the island called Grote Waard was enclosed with dikes all around and a dam was built at Spaarndam. New governmental bodies were created, the water boards, which were charged with the task of protecting the polders against ever-present threat of flooding. Count William granted city rights to Geertruidenberg in 1213, to Dordrecht in 1217, to Middelburg in 1220, in this way he gave an impulse to trade. First, he was married in 1197 at Stavoren to Adelaide of Guelders, daughter of Otto I, Count of Guelders and they had the following children, Floris IV, Count of Holland. Otto, Regent of Holland in 1238–1239, Bishop of Utrecht, William, Regent of Holland in 1234–1238. Adelaide died on 12 February 1218 while William was away on crusade and it was Count William that introduced his son, Count Floris IV to Marie of Brabant, daughter of Henry I, Duke of Brabant and Maud of Boulogne and Alsace, whom Floris quickly married. De Boer, Dick, Cordfunke, Erik, Graven van Holland, portretten in woord en beeld, Zwolle, Walburg Pers, pp. 29–30, ISBN 978-90-6011-915-0 Count Holland and Frisia, Chapter 2

8.
Louis II, Count of Loon
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Louis II was count of Loon between the end of the 12th century to 1218. He was the son of Gérard II, Count of Looz, and Adelaide of Gelderland, daughter of Henry I, Count of Guelders and he also claimed to be the legitimate Count of Holland during the Loon War. He waged war against duke Henry I of Brabant for the inheritance of Albert III of Moha and he had the rights of both cities, because he was regent of Duras. This culminated in the decisive Battle of Steppes in 1213 in which Louis prevailed, Louis married Ada, Countess of Holland in 1203 after her father died and she inherited Holland. She waged war against her uncle William I of Holland, to defend her inheritance of Holland, despite her marriage to Louis for extra protection, she was taken prisoner in Leiden and brought first to Texel and then to England. Louis sought support from Hugo de Pierrepont, bishop of Liège and he was succeeded as Count of Loon by his nephew Louis III. Baerten, J. Les origines des comtes de Looz et la formation territoriale du comté, Revue belge de philologie et dhistoire 43,1965 Medieval Lands Project, Comtes de Looz

9.
County of Loon
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The County of Loon was a province of the ancien regime Holy Roman Empire, lying west of the Meuse river in present-day Flemish-speaking Belgium, and east of the old Duchy of Brabant. The most important cities of the county were Beringen, Bilzen, Borgloon, Bree, Hamont, Hasselt, Herk-de-Stad, Maaseik, Peer and its territory corresponded closely to that of the current Belgian province of Limburg. Under various new names it first became part of France, and then of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, the original centre of this county before it expanded was Borgloon, originally just called Loon, in the southern part of the county. This part of the county is geographically in the hilly Belgian region known as Hesbaye in French or Haspengouw in Dutch and it later expanded northwards into the low-lying Campine or Kempen region which was known as Toxandria in the early Middle Ages. Very little is certain about the origin of the county, already in Carolingian times there were four counties within Haspengouw, mentioned in the treaty of Meersen. Though their names are not known for sure anymore, and it appears that the names and borders of counties were not very stable, one of them may have been Loon. A document of 946 refers to villa Lens in comitatu Avernas temporibus Rodulphi comitis which seems to place Loon, still only a villa, in the county of Avernas. In the same period, a records also show a count Rudolf held a county named Hocht in the general area. All these areas seem to have been under the control of two related groups of families referred to today as the House of Reginar and the House of Balderik, the Reginar family were possibly earlier Counts of Hesbaye. They were a Carolingian family that had held the counties of Leuven-Brabant, the Balderiks were a family with links to Betuwe and the Ottonian dynasty. The first reference to anyone as a count of Loon is Otto, in that document he is named as husband of Liutgarde, daughter of Ermengarde, countess of Namur, and they were named as parents of Baldric II, Bishop of Liège. The first known Count to be found in records from his own time was named Giselbert, exactly what territory he held is still uncertain, and his brother Arnulf is also mentioned as a count. In 1015, Giselbert and Arnulf were referred to as my brothers the counts by Bishop Baldric, in 1016 a charter mentions count Arnulf the brother of count Giselbert. In 1018 a place is mentioned as being in the pagus Haspengouw in the county of count Giselbert, in 1036 there is mention of count Giselbert in the territory Haspengouw. 1040 was also when the first clear mention of the county of Loon appeared, there are several theories concerning the ancestry of Giselbert, Arnulf, and Baldric II. As mentioned above, one record from later names their father as Otto, but that document is not fully accepted, given that another records Liutgarde as the mother of Emmo and Otto, discussed below. Making her the mother of Baldric, Giselbert, Arnulf, as well as Emmo and Otto, furthermore, the records about Ermengarde the countess of Namur are also in disagreement. The next generation is again of two brothers, Emmo and Otto, who are thought to be either the sons of Giselbert or Arnulf, souvereyns & Bijsterveld 2008, p.117 favours Arnulf, noting that Emmo named his son and heir Arnulf, not Giselbert

10.
Leiden
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Leiden is a city and municipality in the Dutch province of South Holland. Leiden is located on the Oude Rijn, at a distance of some 20 kilometres from The Hague to its south, the recreational area of the Kaag Lakes lies just to the northeast of Leiden. A university city since 1575, Leiden houses Leiden University, the oldest university of the Netherlands, Leiden is a city with a rich cultural heritage, not only in science, but also in the arts. One of the worlds most famous painters, Rembrandt, was born, other famous Leiden painters include Lucas van Leyden, Jan van Goyen and Jan van Steen. The city has one of Europes most prominent scientific centres for more than four centuries. Modern scientific medical research and teaching started in the early 18th century in Leiden with Boerhaave, many important scientific discoveries have been made here, giving rise to Leiden’s motto, ‘City of Discoveries’. It is twinned with Oxford, the location of the United Kingdoms oldest university, Leiden University and Leiden University of Applied Sciences together have around 35,000 students. Leiden is a university city, university buildings are scattered throughout the city. Leiden was formed on a hill at the confluence of the rivers Oude. In the oldest reference to this, from circa 860, the settlement was called Leithon, the name is said to be from Germanic *leitha- canal. Leiden has in the past erroneously been associated with the Roman outpost Lugdunum Batavorum and this particular castellum was thought to be located at the Burcht of Leiden, and the citys name was thought to be derived of the Latin name Lugdunum. However the castellum was in closer to the town of Katwijk. The landlord of Leiden, situated in a stronghold on the hill, was subject to the Bishop of Utrecht. This county got its name in 1101 from a domain near the stronghold, Leiden was sacked in 1047 by Emperor Henry III. Early 13th century, Ada, Countess of Holland took refuge here when she was fighting in a war against her uncle, William I. He besieged the stronghold and captured Ada, Leiden received city rights in 1266. In 1389, its population had grown to about 4,000 persons, burgrave Filips of Wassenaar and the other local noblemen of the Hook faction assumed that the duke would besiege Leiden first and send small units out to conquer the surrounding citadels. But John of Bavaria chose to attack the citadels first and he rolled the cannons with his army but one which was too heavy went by ship

11.
Texel
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Texel is a municipality and an island with a population of 13,641 in the province of North Holland in the Netherlands. It is the largest and most populated island of the West Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea, the island is situated north of Den Helder, northeast of Noorderhaaks, also known as Razende Bol and southwest of Vlieland. The name Texel is Frisian, but because of historical sound-changes in Dutch, where all -x- sounds have been replaced with -s- sounds, the name is typically pronounced Tessel in Dutch. In the early Middle Ages and before, Texel and Wieringen may have much bigger and met each other as opposite banks of the Marsdiep. In the 13th century Ada, Countess of Holland was held prisoner on Texel by her uncle William, Texel received city rights in 1415. Texel was involved in the Battle of Scheveningen during the First Anglo-Dutch War, Texel is also famous in military history as the only place where a navy was defeated on horseback. In 1797, Texel was involved in the Battle of Camperdown during the French Revolutionary Wars, during the American Revolution, Texel was used as a haven port for the USS Bonhomme Richard before it sank off the coast of Flamborough Head in Britain in September 1779. In that final action, John Paul Jones defeated and captured the British ship HMS Serapis and this event further complicated Anglo-Dutch relations. During the First World War in 1914, the Battle off Texel took place off the coast of Texel, at the end of Second World War in 1945, the Georgian Uprising of Texel took place on the island. The municipality is located at 53°3′N 4°48′E north of the mainland of the province of North Holland and west of the mainland of the province of Friesland. The island of Texel is situated north of the city of Den Helder, northeast of the island of Noorderhaaks, which is part of the municipality. The island of Texel was originally made up of two islands, Texel proper to the south and Eierland to the northeast, which were connected by shoals, in the seventeenth century, the islands were poldered together. Today, Texel forms the largest natural barrier between the North Sea and the Wadden Sea, the dune landscape on Texel is a unique habitat for wildlife. Notable areas include De Slufter, where the tide comes in and meets the dunes, Texel is known for its wildlife, particularly in winter, when birds of prey and geese take up residence. About one third of Texel is a nature reserve. A wetland called Utopia has been designed for birds to nest in, the tourism industry forms a substantial part of the economy in Texel. Approximately 70% of activities on Texel are in some way related to tourism, popular forms of tourism on Texel include cycling, walking, swimming and horse riding. Texel has a cycle path network

12.
John Lackland
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John, also known as John Lackland, was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death in 1216. The baronial revolt at the end of Johns reign led to the sealing of Magna Carta, John, the youngest of five sons of King Henry II of England and Duchess Eleanor of Aquitaine, was at first not expected to inherit significant lands. Following the failed rebellion of his brothers between 1173 and 1174, however, John became Henrys favourite child. He was appointed the Lord of Ireland in 1177 and given lands in England, Johns elder brothers William, Henry and Geoffrey died young, by the time Richard I became king in 1189, John was a potential heir to the throne. John unsuccessfully attempted a rebellion against Richards royal administrators whilst his brother was participating in the Third Crusade, John spent much of the next decade attempting to regain these lands, raising huge revenues, reforming his armed forces and rebuilding continental alliances. Johns judicial reforms had a impact on the English common law system. An argument with Pope Innocent III led to Johns excommunication in 1209, Johns attempt to defeat Philip in 1214 failed due to the French victory over Johns allies at the battle of Bouvines. When he returned to England, John faced a rebellion by many of his barons, although both John and the barons agreed to the Magna Carta peace treaty in 1215, neither side complied with its conditions. Civil war broke out shortly afterwards, with the barons aided by Louis of France and it soon descended into a stalemate. John was born to Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine on 24 December 1166, Henry had inherited significant territories along the Atlantic seaboard—Anjou, Normandy and England—and expanded his empire by conquering Brittany. The result was the Angevin Empire, named after Henrys paternal title as Count of Anjou and, more specifically, its seat in Angers. The Empire, however, was fragile, although all the lands owed allegiance to Henry. As one moved south through Anjou and Aquitaine, the extent of Henrys power in the provinces diminished considerably, scarcely resembling the concept of an empire at all. Some of the ties between parts of the empire such as Normandy and England were slowly dissolving over time. It was unclear what would happen to the empire on Henrys death, most believed that Henry would divide the empire, giving each son a substantial portion, and hoping that his children would continue to work together as allies after his death. To complicate matters, much of the Angevin empire was held by Henry only as a vassal of the King of France of the line of the House of Capet. Henry had often allied himself with the Holy Roman Emperor against France, shortly after his birth, John was passed from Eleanor into the care of a wet nurse, a traditional practice for medieval noble families. Eleanor then left for Poitiers, the capital of Aquitaine, and sent John and this may have been done with the aim of steering her youngest son, with no obvious inheritance, towards a future ecclesiastical career

13.
Kingdom of England
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In the early 11th century the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, united by Æthelstan, became part of the North Sea Empire of Cnut the Great, a personal union between England, Denmark and Norway. The completion of the conquest of Wales by Edward I in 1284 put Wales under the control of the English crown, from the accession of James I in 1603, the Stuart dynasty ruled England in personal union with Scotland and Ireland. Under the Stuarts, the kingdom plunged into war, which culminated in the execution of Charles I in 1649. The monarchy returned in 1660, but the Civil War had established the precedent that an English monarch cannot govern without the consent of Parliament and this concept became legally established as part of the Glorious Revolution of 1688. From this time the kingdom of England, as well as its state the United Kingdom. On 1 May 1707, under the terms of the Acts of Union 1707, the Anglo-Saxons referred to themselves as the Engle or the Angelcynn, originally names of the Angles. They called their land Engla land, meaning land of the English, by Æthelweard Latinized Anglia, from an original Anglia vetus, the name Engla land became England by haplology during the Middle English period. The Latin name was Anglia or Anglorum terra, the Old French, by the 14th century, England was also used in reference to the entire island of Great Britain. The standard title for all monarchs from Æthelstan until the time of King John was Rex Anglorum, Canute the Great, a Dane, was the first king to call himself King of England. In the Norman period Rex Anglorum remained standard, with use of Rex Anglie. The Empress Matilda styled herself Domina Anglorum, from the time of King John onwards all other titles were eschewed in favour of Rex or Regina Anglie. In 1604 James VI and I, who had inherited the English throne the previous year, the English and Scottish parliaments, however, did not recognise this title until the Acts of Union of 1707. The kingdom of England emerged from the unification of the early medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdoms known as the Heptarchy, East Anglia, Mercia, Northumbria, Kent, Essex, Sussex. The Viking invasions of the 9th century upset the balance of power between the English kingdoms, and native Anglo-Saxon life in general, the English lands were unified in the 10th century in a reconquest completed by King Æthelstan in 927 CE. During the Heptarchy, the most powerful king among the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms might become acknowledged as Bretwalda, the decline of Mercia allowed Wessex to become more powerful. It absorbed the kingdoms of Kent and Sussex in 825, the kings of Wessex became increasingly dominant over the other kingdoms of England during the 9th century. In 827, Northumbria submitted to Egbert of Wessex at Dore, in 886, Alfred the Great retook London, which he apparently regarded as a turning point in his reign. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle says that all of the English people not subject to the Danes submitted themselves to King Alfred, asser added that Alfred, king of the Anglo-Saxons, restored the city of London splendidly

14.
Brugge
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Bruges is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country. The area of the whole city amounts to more than 13,840 hectares, including 1,075 hectares off the coast, the historic city centre is a prominent World Heritage Site of UNESCO. It is oval and about 430 hectares in size, the citys total population is 117,073, of whom around 20,000 live in the city centre. The metropolitan area, including the commuter zone, covers an area of 616 km2 and has a total of 255,844 inhabitants as of 1 January 2008. Along with a few other canal-based northern cities, such as Amsterdam and Stockholm, Bruges has a significant economic importance thanks to its port and was once one of the worlds chief commercial cities. Bruges is well known as the seat of the College of Europe, the name probably derives from the Old Dutch for bridge, brugga. Also compare Middle Dutch brucge, brugge, and modern Dutch bruggehoofd, the form brugghe would be a southern Dutch variant. The Dutch word and the English bridge both derive from Proto-Germanic *brugjō-, Bruges was a location of coastal settlement during prehistory. This Bronze Age and Iron Age settlement is unrelated to medieval city development, in the Bruges area, the first fortifications were built after Julius Caesars conquest of the Menapii in the first century BC, to protect the coastal area against pirates. The Franks took over the region from the Gallo-Romans around the 4th century. The Viking incursions of the century prompted Count Baldwin I of Flanders to reinforce the Roman fortifications, trade soon resumed with England. Bruges received its city charter on 27 July 1128, and new walls and canals were built, in 1089 Bruges became the capital of the County of Flanders. Since about 1050, gradual silting had caused the city to lose its access to the sea. A storm in 1134, however, re-established this access, through the creation of a channel at the Zwin. The new sea arm stretched all the way to Damme, a city became the commercial outpost for Bruges. Bruges had a location at the crossroads of the northern Hanseatic League trade. They developed, or borrowed from Italy, new forms of merchant capitalism, whereby several merchants would share the risks and profits and they employed new forms of economic exchange, including bills of exchange and letters of credit. The city eagerly welcomed foreign traders, most notably the Portuguese traders selling pepper and other spices, the citys entrepreneurs reached out to make economic colonies of England and Scotlands wool-producing districts

15.
Otto IV
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Otto IV was one of two rival kings of Germany from 1198 on, sole king from 1208 on, and Holy Roman Emperor from 1209 until he was forced to abdicate in 1215. The only German king of the Welf dynasty, he incurred the wrath of Pope Innocent III and was excommunicated in 1210, Otto was the third son of Henry the Lion, Duke of Bavaria and Saxony, and Matilda of England. His exact birthplace is not given by any original source and he grew up in England in the care of his grandfather King Henry II. Otto was fluent in French as well as German and he became the foster son of his maternal uncle, Richard I of England. In 1190, after he left England to join the Third Crusade, the authenticity of this grant was doubted by the vassals of Yorkshire, who prevented Otto taking possession of his earldom. Still, he probably visited Yorkshire in 1191, and he continued to claim the revenues of the earldom after becoming king of Germany, neither did he succeed in getting the 25,000 silver marks willed to him by his uncle in 1199. In 1195, Richard began negotiations to marry Otto to Margaret, daughter, lothian, as Margarets dowry, would be handed over to Richard for safekeeping and the counties of Northumberland and Cumberland would be granted to Otto and turned over to the king of Scotland. The negotiations dragged on until August 1198, when the birth of a son to William rendered them unnecessary. Having failed in his efforts to secure Otto an English earldom or else a Scottish kingdom, in September 1196 Richard, as duke of Aquitaine, there is some disagreement over whether Otto received Poitou in exchange for or in addition to the earldom of York. Otto was in Poitou from September 1196 until mid-1197, when he joined Richard in Normandy to confer over the appointment of bishops to the vacant sees of Poitiers, Limoges and he then participated in the war against Philip II of France on the side of Richard. In October he returned to Poitou, the German historian Jens Ahlers, taking into account Ottos life prior to 1198, considers that he might have been the first foreign king of Germany. Those princes opposed to the Staufen dynasty also decided, on the initiative of Richard of England, Ottos elder brother, Henry, was on a crusade at the time, and so the choice fell to Otto. Otto, soon recognized throughout the northwest and the lower Rhine region, was elected king by his partisans in Cologne on June 9,1198. Otto took control of Aachen, the place of coronation, and was crowned by Adolf, Archbishop of Cologne and this was of great symbolic importance, since the Archbishop of Cologne alone could crown the King of the Romans. Nevertheless, the coronation was done with fake regalia, because the materials were in the hands of the Staufen. Ottos election pulled the empire into the conflict between England and France, Philip had allied himself with the French king, Philip II, while Otto was supported at first by Richard I, and after his death in 1199 by his brother John. The papacy meanwhile, under Innocent III, determined to prevent the unification of Sicily. Therefore, Innocent III favoured Otto, whose family had always opposed to the house of Hohenstaufen

16.
Herkenrode Abbey
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Herkenrode Abbey was monastery of Cistercian nuns located in Kuringen, part of the municipality of Hasselt, which lies in the province of Limburg, Belgium. Since 1972 some of the buildings have served as the home of a community of the Canonesses of the Holy Sepulchre. In 1974 the buildings and the estate were designated and since then protected as a national historical monument. In 1217 the abbey was formally accepted into the Cistercian Order, the first, the nuns referred to themselves as the noble ladies of the Order of Cîteaux of the County of Loon. After Count Gerard was killed during the Third Crusade at the Siege of Acre in 1191, his body was brought back by the same Archbishop Rudolph, Rudolph reached, though, only as far as Switzerland, dying there on the way home. Gerard was buried in the church of the abbey he had founded and this custom continued up to the last Count to die with that title, Dietrich of Sponheim, who was refused burial here because he had been excommunicated. In 1366 the County of Loon passed into the possession of the Prince-Bishops of Liège, during the 15th century the abbey, like many others, suffered a severe decline, but from around 1500 enjoyed a revival. In the 18th century a total reconstruction was planned, of which the Neo-Classical abbesses lodgings was built, as well as an English garden, still intact, the French Revolutionary Army invaded the region in 1795 and annexed it to France. During a policy of anti-Catholic measures which were in effect from 1795-1799, they seized the abbey and expelled the nuns, the abbey was sold to Claes and Libotton, after which the buildings gradually fell into disrepair. In 1826 a fire destroyed much of the church, which had been in use as a factory, in 1844 the remaining ruins were demolished, including the mausoleum of the Counts of Loon. Many artworks from the church have survived and are kept in museums, in 1972 the Canonesses Regular of the Holy Sepulchre bought part of the old abbey grounds with their remaining buildings. They have since built a new monastery and retreat center, ten years later, they built the Church of the Risen Lord, which now serves the canonesses and their guests. Much restoration work has taken place on the buildings of the previous abbey. Een overzicht in woord en beeld, samenvatting van een lezingenreeks in Herkenrode

17.
France
–
France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks

18.
Hohenstaufen
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The Hohenstaufen, also called the Staufer or Staufen, were a dynasty of German kings during the Middle Ages. Besides Germany, they ruled the Kingdom of Sicily. In Italian historiography, they are known as the Svevi, since they were dukes of Swabia from 1079, three members of the dynasty—Frederick I, Henry VI and Frederick II—were crowned Holy Roman Emperor. The name Staufen derives from Stauf, meaning chalice, and was applied to conical hills in Swabia in the Middle Ages. The family derives its name from the castle which the first Swabian duke of the lineage built there in the half of the 11th century. Staufen castle was finally called Hohenstaufen by historians in the 19th century. The name of the dynasty followed, but in recent decades the trend in German historiography has been to prefer the name Staufer, the noble family first appeared in the late 10th century in the Swabian Riesgau region around the former Carolingian court of Nördlingen. A local count Frederick is mentioned as progenitor in a pedigree drawn up by Abbot Wibald of Stavelot at the behest of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in 1153. He held the office of a Swabian count palatine, his son Frederick of Buren married Hildegard of Egisheim-Dagsburg and their son Frederick I was appointed Duke of Swabia at Hohenstaufen Castle by the Salian king Henry IV of Germany in 1079. At the same time, Duke Frederick I was engaged to the kings approximately seventeen-year-old daughter, Fredericks brother Otto was elevated to the Strasbourg bishopric in 1082. Upon Fredericks death, he was succeeded by his son, Duke Frederick II, Frederick II remained a close ally of the Salians, he and his younger brother Conrad were named the kings representatives in Germany when the king was in Italy. Around 1120, Frederick II married Judith of Bavaria from the rival House of Welf, when the last male member of the Salian dynasty, Emperor Henry V, died without heirs in 1125, a controversy arose about the succession. A civil war between Fredericks dynasty and Lothairs ended with Fredericks submission in 1134, after Lothairs death in 1137, Fredericks brother Conrad was elected King as Conrad III. In 1147, Conrad heard Bernard of Clairvaux preach the Second Crusade at Speyer, conrads brother Duke Frederick II died in 1147, and was succeeded in Swabia by his son, Duke Frederick III. When King Conrad III died without heir in 1152, Frederick also succeeded him. As royal access to the resources of the church in Germany was much reduced and he was soon crowned emperor in Italy, but decades of warfare on the peninsula yielded scant results. The Papacy and the prosperous city-states of the Lombard League in northern Italy were traditional enemies, under the skilled leadership of Pope Alexander III, the alliance suffered many defeats but ultimately was able to deny the emperor a complete victory in Italy. During Fredericks long stays in Italy, the German princes became stronger, offers of reduced taxes and manorial duties enticed many Germans to settle in the east in the course of the Ostsiedlung

19.
Welfs
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The House of Welf was a European dynasty that has included many German and British monarchs from the 11th to 20th century and Emperor Ivan VI of Russia in the 18th century. The House of Welf is the branch of the House of Este. The first member was Welf IV, he inherited the property of the Elder House of Welf when his maternal uncle Welf III, Duke of Carinthia and Verona, the last male Welf of the Elder House, died in 1055. Welf IV was the son of Welf IIIs sister Kunigunde of Altdorf and her husband Albert Azzo II of Este, in 1070, Welf IV became duke of Bavaria. Since the Welf dynasty sided with the Pope in this controversy, Henry the Black, duke of Bavaria from 1120–1126, was the first of the three dukes of the Welf dynasty called Henry. His wife Wulfhild was the heiress of the house of Billung, possessing the territory around Lüneburg in Lower Saxony and their son, Henry the Proud was the son-in-law and heir of Emperor Lothair of Supplinburg and became also duke of Saxony on Lothairs death. Lothair left his territory around Brunswick, inherited from his mother of the Brunonen family and her husband Henry the Proud became then the favoured candidate in the imperial election against Conrad III of the Hohenstaufen. But Henry lost the election, as the other princes feared his power and temperament, Henry the Lion recovered his fathers two duchies, Saxony in 1142, Bavaria in 1156 and thus ruled vast parts of Germany. In 1168 he married Matilda, the daughter of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine, and sister of Richard Lionheart, gaining ever more influence. His first cousin, Emperor Frederick I of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, tried to get along with him, Henry made his peace with the Hohenstaufen Emperor in 1185, and returned to his much diminished lands around Brunswick without recovering his two duchies. Bavaria had been given to Otto I Wittelsbach, Duke of Bavaria, Henry died at Brunswick in 1195. Henrys son Otto of Brunswick was elected King of the Romans and he incurred the wrath of Pope Innocent III and was excommunicated in 1215. Otto was forced to abdicate the throne by the Hohenstaufen Frederick II. He was the only Welf to become emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Henry the Lions grandson Otto the Child became duke of a part of Saxony in 1235, the new Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg, and died there in 1252. The subsequent history of the dukedom and its subordinate principalities was characterized by divisions and reunifications. The subordinate states that were created, and which had the legal status of principalities within the duchy were generally named after the residences of their rulers. The estates of the different dynastic lines could be inherited by a line when a family died out. The individual subordinate principalities continued to exist until the end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, following the Congress of Vienna in 1814/15, the territories became part of the Kingdom of Hanover and the Duchy of Brunswick

20.
Protestant Reformation
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The period is usually considered to have begun with the publication of the Ninety-five Theses by Luther in 1517 to the Thirty Years War and ended with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. The Protestant position, however, would come to incorporate doctrinal changes such as sola scriptura, the initial movement within Germany diversified, and other reform impulses arose independently of Luther. The spread of Gutenbergs printing press provided the means for the dissemination of religious materials in the vernacular. The largest groups were the Lutherans and Calvinists, Lutheran churches were founded mostly in Germany, the Baltics and Scandinavia, while the Reformed ones were founded in Switzerland, Hungary, France, the Netherlands and Scotland. The new movement influenced the Church of England decisively after 1547 under Edward VI and Elizabeth I, there were also reformation movements throughout continental Europe known as the Radical Reformation, which gave rise to the Anabaptist, Moravian and other Pietistic movements. The Roman Catholic Church responded with a Counter-Reformation initiated by the Council of Trent, much work in battling Protestantism was done by the well-organised new order of the Jesuits. In general, Northern Europe, with the exception of most of Ireland, southern Europe remained Roman Catholic, while Central Europe was a site of a fierce conflict, culminating in the Thirty Years War, which left it devastated. The oldest Protestant churches, such as the Unitas Fratrum and Moravian Church, the later Protestant Churches generally date their doctrinal separation from the Roman Catholic Church to the 16th century. The Reformation began as an attempt to reform the Roman Catholic Church, by priests who opposed what they perceived as false doctrines and ecclesiastic malpractice. They especially objected to the teaching and the sale of indulgences, and the abuses thereof, and to simony, the reformers saw these practices as evidence of the systemic corruption of the Churchs hierarchy, which included the pope. Unrest due to the Great Schism of Western Christianity excited wars between princes, uprisings among the peasants, and widespread concern over corruption in the Church, New perspectives came from John Wycliffe at Oxford University and from Jan Hus at the Charles University in Prague. Hus rejected indulgences and adopted a doctrine of justification by grace through faith alone, the Roman Catholic Church officially concluded this debate at the Council of Constance by condemning Hus, who was executed by burning despite a promise of safe-conduct. Wycliffe was posthumously condemned as a heretic and his corpse exhumed and burned in 1428, the Council of Constance confirmed and strengthened the traditional medieval conception of church and empire. The council did not address the national tensions or the theological tensions stirred up during the century and could not prevent schism. Pope Sixtus IV established the practice of selling indulgences to be applied to the dead, Pope Alexander VI was one of the most controversial of the Renaissance popes. He was the father of seven children, including Lucrezia and Cesare Borgia, in response to papal corruption, particularly the sale of indulgences, Luther wrote The Ninety-Five Theses. The Reformation was born of Luthers dual declaration – first, the discovering of Jesus and salvation by faith alone, the Protestant reformers were unanimous in agreement and this understanding of prophecy furnished importance to their deeds. It was the point and the battle cry that made the Reformation nearly unassailable

21.
Virtual International Authority File
–
The Virtual International Authority File is an international authority file. It is a joint project of national libraries and operated by the Online Computer Library Center. The project was initiated by the US Library of Congress, the German National Library, the National Library of France joined the project on October 5,2007. The project transitions to a service of the OCLC on April 4,2012, the aim is to link the national authority files to a single virtual authority file. In this file, identical records from the different data sets are linked together, a VIAF record receives a standard data number, contains the primary see and see also records from the original records, and refers to the original authority records. The data are available online and are available for research and data exchange. Reciprocal updating uses the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting protocol, the file numbers are also being added to Wikipedia biographical articles and are incorporated into Wikidata. VIAFs clustering algorithm is run every month, as more data are added from participating libraries, clusters of authority records may coalesce or split, leading to some fluctuation in the VIAF identifier of certain authority records

22.
Integrated Authority File
–
The Integrated Authority File or GND is an international authority file for the organisation of personal names, subject headings and corporate bodies from catalogues. It is used mainly for documentation in libraries and increasingly also by archives, the GND is managed by the German National Library in cooperation with various regional library networks in German-speaking Europe and other partners. The GND falls under the Creative Commons Zero license, the GND specification provides a hierarchy of high-level entities and sub-classes, useful in library classification, and an approach to unambiguous identification of single elements. It also comprises an ontology intended for knowledge representation in the semantic web, available in the RDF format

23.
Biografisch Portaal
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The Biografisch Portaal is an initiative based at the Huygens Institute for Dutch History in The Hague, with the aim of making biographical texts of the Netherlands more accessible. As of 2011, only information about deceased people is included. The system used is based on the standards of the Text Encoding Initiative, access to the Biografisch Portaal is available free through a web-based interface. The project is an undertaking by ten scientific and cultural bodies in the Netherlands with the Huygens Institute as main contact. In February 2012, a new project was started called BiographyNed to build a tool for use with the Biografisch Portaal that will link biographies to events in time. The main goal of the project is to formulate ‘the boundaries of the Netherlands’. List of Dutch people Official website

Coat of arms
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A coat of arms is an heraldic visual design on an escutcheon, surcoat, or tabard. The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the heraldic achievement which in its whole consists of shield, supporters, crest. A coat of arms is traditionally unique to a person, family, state. The ancient Romans used similar insignia on their shiel

1.
The German Hyghalmen Roll, ca. late 15th century, illustrates the German practice of thematic repetition from the arms in the crest

3.
The Zechariah Seal coat of arms.

Ada (name)
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Ada is a feminine given name. One source indicates it originates from a Germanic word meaning nobility and it can also be a short form of names such as Adelaide and Adeline. The name also traces to Hebrew origin, sometimes spelt Adah - עָדָה, the name has seen a slight increase in popularity in the United States in recent years, where it was the 64

1.
Ada Lovelace is considered by some as the first computer programmer.

Count of Holland
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The Counts of Holland ruled over the County of Holland in the Low Countries between the 10th and the 16th century. The first count of Holland, Dirk I, was the son or foster-son of Gerolf and he received land around Egmond from Charles the Fat at a place called Bladella in 922. This is seen as the beginning of the county of Holland, however, until a

1.
Louis I 1203–1207 with Ada

2.
Coat of arms of the Counts of Holland

County of Holland
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The territory of the County of Holland corresponds roughly with the current provinces of North and South Holland in the Netherlands. The oldest sources refer to the not clearly defined county as Frisia, before 1101, sources talk about Frisian counts, but in this year Floris II, Count of Holland is mentioned as Florentius comes de Hollant. This titl

1.
Rorik of Dorestad in a 1912 illustration.

2.
The County of Holland around 1350.

3.
Dirk VI, Count of Holland, 1114–1157, and his mother Petronella visiting the work on the Egmond Abbey, Charles Rochussen, 1881.

Burcht van Leiden
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The Burcht van Leiden is an old shell keep in Leiden constructed in the 11th century. It is located at the spot where two tributaries of the Rhine come together, the Oude Rijn and the Nieuwe Rijn, the structure is on top of a motte, and is today a public park. From humble beginnings, the hill was raised during various periods of history up to 9 met

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Burcht van Leiden (shell keep)

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Southern gate to the Burcht with historic timeline 1203, 1420 and 1574 in Latin. Now facing a busy shopping street.

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Samaria in Glass 26 by Isaac van Swanenburg, mayor of Leiden, 1601, showing the watchtower above left much like the Burcht.

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The Burcht in a 1698 print by Frederick de Wit for his atlas

Dirk VII, Count of Holland
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Dirk VII of Holland, also known as Dietrich in German, Thierry in French, and Theodoric in English, was Count of Holland from 1190 to 1203. He was the son of Floris III and Ada of Huntingdon. Thanks to a war in the Holy Roman Empire, Henry VI. The Emperor supported Dirk by giving him the right to tolls on Flemish traders in Geervliet. Henry also ga

1.
Holland, silver penny or 'kopje', with bust of Dirk VII

William I of Holland
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William I, Count of Holland from 1203 to 1222. He was the son of Floris III and Ada of Huntingdon. He started a revolt against his brother, Dirk VII and became count in Friesland after a reconciliation, Friesland was considered as a part of Holland by the Counts of Holland. His niece, Ada, Countess of Holland inherited Holland in 1203, after a war

1.
Holland, penny struck by William I as Count of Holland between 1213-1222.

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William I as imagined in the 16th century

Louis II, Count of Loon
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Louis II was count of Loon between the end of the 12th century to 1218. He was the son of Gérard II, Count of Looz, and Adelaide of Gelderland, daughter of Henry I, Count of Guelders and he also claimed to be the legitimate Count of Holland during the Loon War. He waged war against duke Henry I of Brabant for the inheritance of Albert III of Moha a

1.
15th century depiction of Louis and Ada's wedding

County of Loon
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The County of Loon was a province of the ancien regime Holy Roman Empire, lying west of the Meuse river in present-day Flemish-speaking Belgium, and east of the old Duchy of Brabant. The most important cities of the county were Beringen, Bilzen, Borgloon, Bree, Hamont, Hasselt, Herk-de-Stad, Maaseik, Peer and its territory corresponded closely to t

Leiden
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Leiden is a city and municipality in the Dutch province of South Holland. Leiden is located on the Oude Rijn, at a distance of some 20 kilometres from The Hague to its south, the recreational area of the Kaag Lakes lies just to the northeast of Leiden. A university city since 1575, Leiden houses Leiden University, the oldest university of the Nethe

Texel
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Texel is a municipality and an island with a population of 13,641 in the province of North Holland in the Netherlands. It is the largest and most populated island of the West Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea, the island is situated north of Den Helder, northeast of Noorderhaaks, also known as Razende Bol and southwest of Vlieland. The name Texel i

1.
North end of the island with the Eierland Lighthouse in 2015

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Dutch ships in the roadstead of Texel, 1671

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2014 map of Texel

4.
The Dunes of Texel National Park

John Lackland
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John, also known as John Lackland, was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death in 1216. The baronial revolt at the end of Johns reign led to the sealing of Magna Carta, John, the youngest of five sons of King Henry II of England and Duchess Eleanor of Aquitaine, was at first not expected to inherit significant lands. Following the failed

Kingdom of England
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In the early 11th century the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, united by Æthelstan, became part of the North Sea Empire of Cnut the Great, a personal union between England, Denmark and Norway. The completion of the conquest of Wales by Edward I in 1284 put Wales under the control of the English crown, from the accession of James I in 1603, the Stuart dynasty

1.
The dominions of Cnut the Great (1014–1035)

2.
Flag

3.
King John signs Magna Carta at Runnymede in 1215, surrounded by his baronage. Illustration from Cassell's History of England, 1902.

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Fifteenth-century miniature depicting the English victory over France at the Battle of Agincourt.

Brugge
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Bruges is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country. The area of the whole city amounts to more than 13,840 hectares, including 1,075 hectares off the coast, the historic city centre is a prominent World Heritage Site of UNESCO. It is oval and about 430 hectares i

1.
A canal in Bruges with the famous Belfry in the background

2.
The Markt ("Market square")

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The 'Burg', painted c. 1691 – 1700 by Meunincxhove

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An old street in Bruges, with the Church of Our Lady tower in the background

Otto IV
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Otto IV was one of two rival kings of Germany from 1198 on, sole king from 1208 on, and Holy Roman Emperor from 1209 until he was forced to abdicate in 1215. The only German king of the Welf dynasty, he incurred the wrath of Pope Innocent III and was excommunicated in 1210, Otto was the third son of Henry the Lion, Duke of Bavaria and Saxony, and M

1.
19th Century impression of Otto IV

2.
Otto IV and Pope Innocent III shake hands

Herkenrode Abbey
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Herkenrode Abbey was monastery of Cistercian nuns located in Kuringen, part of the municipality of Hasselt, which lies in the province of Limburg, Belgium. Since 1972 some of the buildings have served as the home of a community of the Canonesses of the Holy Sepulchre. In 1974 the buildings and the estate were designated and since then protected as

1.
General view

2.
Herkenrode Abbey with a reconstruction of the destroyed church

3.
The restored tithe barn

4.
Map

France
–
France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territ

1.
One of the Lascaux paintings: a horse – Dordogne, approximately 18,000 BC

2.
Flag

3.
The Maison Carrée was a temple of the Gallo-Roman city of Nemausus (present-day Nîmes) and is one of the best preserved vestiges of the Roman Empire.

4.
With Clovis ' conversion to Catholicism in 498, the Frankish monarchy, elective and secular until then, became hereditary and of divine right.

Hohenstaufen
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The Hohenstaufen, also called the Staufer or Staufen, were a dynasty of German kings during the Middle Ages. Besides Germany, they ruled the Kingdom of Sicily. In Italian historiography, they are known as the Svevi, since they were dukes of Swabia from 1079, three members of the dynasty—Frederick I, Henry VI and Frederick II—were crowned Holy Roman

Welfs
–
The House of Welf was a European dynasty that has included many German and British monarchs from the 11th to 20th century and Emperor Ivan VI of Russia in the 18th century. The House of Welf is the branch of the House of Este. The first member was Welf IV, he inherited the property of the Elder House of Welf when his maternal uncle Welf III, Duke o

Protestant Reformation
–
The period is usually considered to have begun with the publication of the Ninety-five Theses by Luther in 1517 to the Thirty Years War and ended with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. The Protestant position, however, would come to incorporate doctrinal changes such as sola scriptura, the initial movement within Germany diversified, and other refor

1.
Protestant Reformation

2.
Execution of Jan Hus, an important Reformation precursor, in 1415.

3.
Martin Luther, shown in a portrait by Lucas Cranach the Elder, initiated the Protestant Reformation in 1517.

4.
Martin Luther's 1534 Bible translated into German. Luther's translation influenced the development of the current Standard German.

Virtual International Authority File
–
The Virtual International Authority File is an international authority file. It is a joint project of national libraries and operated by the Online Computer Library Center. The project was initiated by the US Library of Congress, the German National Library, the National Library of France joined the project on October 5,2007. The project transition

1.
Screenshot 2012

Integrated Authority File
–
The Integrated Authority File or GND is an international authority file for the organisation of personal names, subject headings and corporate bodies from catalogues. It is used mainly for documentation in libraries and increasingly also by archives, the GND is managed by the German National Library in cooperation with various regional library netw

1.
GND screenshot

Biografisch Portaal
–
The Biografisch Portaal is an initiative based at the Huygens Institute for Dutch History in The Hague, with the aim of making biographical texts of the Netherlands more accessible. As of 2011, only information about deceased people is included. The system used is based on the standards of the Text Encoding Initiative, access to the Biografisch Por

1.
The Huygens Institute is housed in the same building as the RKD, the National Archives, the Nederlands Letterkundig Museum (LM), the Netherlands Music Institute (NMI) and the Koninklijke Bibliotheek.